Men’s basketball takes the top honor; beach soccer squad finishes second
- Sheldon Longley and Simba French
- Jan 3, 2024 Updated Jan 3, 2024
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The Nassau Guardian’s Team of the Year is The Bahamas’ senior men’s national basketball team. They were a unanimous selection from a three-person judging panel for its historic run this past summer.
The team advanced to the FIBA (International Basketball Federation) Olympic Qualifying Tournament (OQT), set for July 2-7 in Valencia, Spain. To be in this position, they won the FIBA Americas Olympic Pre-Qualifying Tournament in Santiago del Estero, Argentina, this past summer.
The Bahamas won all four of its games in that tournament. For the first time, The Bahamas utilized three National Basketball Association (NBA) players in Chavano ‘Buddy’ Hield, Eric Gordon, and DeAndre Ayton. They also had several professional players, based in Europe, as well as collegiate players on the roster.
The Bahamas defeated Argentina 82-75 in a hostile Estadio Ciudad de Santiago del Estero in the championship game. The win proved the country is among the best nations in the region in basketball as they advanced as far as Bahamas Basketball has ever been in the Olympic qualifying process. In that championship game, Gordon scored 11 of his game-high 27 points in the fourth quarter. He had a strong shooting night, going 8-for-13 from the field and 6-for-7 from three-point range.
Travis Munnings had 16 points on 5-for-10 shooting, including 3-for-7 from deep. Hield went 5-for-17 from the field and finished with 15 points. Ayton gave the country four players in double figures with 10 points and grabbed a game-high 21 rebounds.
For the OQT, The Bahamas was drawn into a pool with Lebanon, Angola, Finland, Poland, and host country Spain. Those countries were split into two groups. The Bahamas was drawn into Group B with Finland and Poland. Spain, Angola, and Lebanon were drawn into Group A.
The Bahamas has to win that tournament in order to move on to the Paris Olympic Games next summer.
The Bahamas men’s national beach soccer team finished second in the voting process. They too had a good year, narrowly missing out on qualifying for the 2023 FIFA (International Association Football Federation) Beach Soccer World Cup, which was held in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, in November 2023. The Bahamas lost 3-2 to Mexico in the semifinals of the CONCACAF (Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football) Beach Soccer Championships that was held here in Nassau, The Bahamas, at the Malcolm Park Beach Soccer Stadium in May.
The Bahamas was tied with Mexico 2-2 and the match looked like it was headed for extra time and possibly a penalty shootout but Mexico found the back of the net with 54 seconds left in regulation.
It was a rough start for The Bahamas in that semifinal match as the team got into a 2-0 hole in the first period. The Bahamas made it 2-1 in the second period, then 2-2 in the third period. Goalkeeper Michael Butler scored the goal in the second period and then Wood Julmis scored the second goal for The Bahamas.
The Bahamas made history at this tournament when it became the first English-speaking Caribbean nation to advance to the semifinals of the tournament.
The under-17 boys 4x100m relay team from the 50th Oaktree CARIFTA Games of Trent Ford, Andrew Brown, Cayden Smith and Ishmael Rolle, in that order, won a stunning gold medal in 41.46 seconds. The quartet did it at the 2023 CARIFTA Games that was held at the Thomas A. Robinson National Stadium right here in Nassau, The Bahamas. They helped The Bahamas finish second to Jamaica at CARIFTA with the host nation winning eight gold, 13 silver, and 20 bronze for 41 total medals. Jamaica was second on the track in that event but was later disqualified. Grenada ended up with the silver medal, crossing the finish line in 41.95 seconds, and Trinidad and Tobago won the bronze medal in 42.51 seconds.